Wellington Wells is a nightmare wrapped in a Technicolor dream. If you’ve ever stared at the cover of We Happy Few PlayStation 4 and wondered if the actual game is as trippy as the box art, the answer is a resounding "sorta." It’s complicated. This isn't your standard BioShock clone, even if the vibes say otherwise. Honestly, playing this on a base PS4 in 2026 is a very different experience than it was at launch, and you need to know what you're getting into before you pop that first pill of Joy.
The game is a survival-adventure hybrid set in an alternate 1960s England where Germany won the war. To cope with a "Very Bad Thing" that happened in the past, the entire population stays high on a hallucinogenic drug called Joy. You play as three different "Downers"—people who have stopped taking their meds and are now trying to escape the city without getting their skulls caved in by a Bobby.
The Reality of We Happy Few PlayStation 4 Performance
Let's get the technical stuff out of the way because, frankly, it's the biggest hurdle. If you are playing on an original, base PS4, brace yourself. The frame rate is... ambitious. You'll mostly see 30 FPS, but when you enter heavily populated areas like Hamlyn Village, it can chug down into the low 20s. It’s noticeably choppy.
On a PS4 Pro, things stabilize a bit more at 1080p, but don't expect 4K 60 FPS magic. It just doesn't happen. If you’re lucky enough to be playing via backwards compatibility on a PS5 or the newer PS5 Pro, the game finally breathes. You get a locked, smooth experience that makes the platforming and combat feel way less like wading through molasses.
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The bugs are still there, though. Even with years of patches from Compulsion Games, you will see NPCs clip through the floor. Sometimes a doctor will yell at you for being in a house when you're clearly standing in the middle of a park. It’s janky. But for many, that jank is part of the charm.
Three Very Different Stories
One thing people often get wrong is thinking you just play as Arthur Hastings. You don't. The game is split into three distinct acts, and each one changes how you play.
- Arthur: He’s your balanced character. He’s good at blending in and has the most "standard" survival experience.
- Sally: She’s a chemist. She can’t carry heavy stuff and she’s terrible in a straight-up fistfight. You have to play her like a stealth game, using syringes and perfumes to distract enemies. Also, she has a baby she has to keep fed and cared for, which adds a weird "parenting sim" layer to the survival mechanics.
- Ollie: A former soldier with a massive chip on his shoulder. He’s a brute. He can't blend in worth a damn, but he can blow things up. The catch? He’s diabetic. You have to manage his blood sugar constantly or he’ll start hallucinating and losing stamina.
The narrative is where the game actually wins. It’s dark. It’s genuinely disturbing when you find notes scattered around the world detailing what the "Very Bad Thing" actually was. The discrepancy between what a character sees while on Joy—rainbows, butterflies, colorful streets—and the reality of rotting meat and blood-stained walls is haunting.
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Survival vs. Story: Finding the Sweet Spot
When We Happy Few first hit Early Access, it was a hardcore survival roguelike. Fans hated it. They wanted the story. So, the developers pivoted.
In the current version on PlayStation 4, you have options. If you hate the idea of dying because you forgot to drink a glass of water, you can play on "Story" mode. This basically turns off the lethal consequences of hunger and thirst. You still get debuffs, but you won't keel over.
- Conformity is key: In the city, wear a nice suit. In the Garden District (where the outcasts live), wear tattered rags. If you wear a suit in the slums, they’ll beat you up for being a "rich prick."
- Take your Joy (sparingly): Sometimes you have to take the drug to pass through security gates. Just don't overdo it, or the crash will leave you vomiting in an alley while guards hunt you down.
- The Night is your friend: Curfews are strict. If you're out at night, Bobbies will chase you on sight. But it’s also the best time to loot houses without the neighbors calling the cops.
Is the DLC Worth It?
If you buy the "Deluxe Edition" or the Season Pass, you get three DLCs: They Came From Below, Lightbearer, and We All Fall Down.
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Honestly? These are arguably better than the main game. They are tighter, more linear, and strip away a lot of the tedious crafting. We All Fall Down is particularly good as it concludes the story of Wellington Wells in a way that feels final and earned. It removes the survival meters entirely and focuses on whip-based traversal and stealth.
Making the Most of Your Playthrough
To get the best experience out of We Happy Few PlayStation 4, you should focus on the side quests. The main path can feel like a lot of walking across empty, procedurally generated fields. The side quests are where the weird, "Monty Python meets George Orwell" writing really shines.
- Check the trash: Seriously. Vials and bobby pins are gold.
- Upgrade your bag: Inventory management is a nightmare early on. Make extra pockets your first priority in the skill tree.
- Don't fight everyone: Combat is clunky. It's mostly just swinging a pipe until your stamina runs out. Stealth is almost always better.
Wellington Wells is a place that stays with you. Even with the technical hiccups on the PS4, there isn't another game that captures this specific flavor of British dystopia. Just remember to keep your chin up and take your Joy. Or don't.
If you're starting a new game today, head straight into the settings and adjust the survival difficulty to "Easy" or "Story" if you want to focus on the lore. This bypasses the most frustrating parts of the early-game grind. Also, make sure your game is updated to the latest version (1.9) to minimize the chance of quest-breaking bugs.